Solu PC (Photo : Solu)
Solu, a Finnish tech firm, developed the world's smallest pocket PC. It is a handheld touchscreen gadget similar to phablets as its size is in between smartphones and desktops.
According to ZDNET, it look like an Apple TV and runs on a customized version of Android similar to Google's Chromebook. The device, which developer Kristoffer Lawson describes as a crazy project, was built to run HTLM5 web-apps with offline support.
Launched in the U.S. a few weeks ago, the project exceeded its Kickstarter goal of €200,000 to fund the production of the small device for its 500 supporters. Since he launched the venture in 2013, Lawson reckons it has received $2 million funding.
In its Kickstarter campaign, Solu assured investors they would not have to worry about the device's hard drive, file backups and software installations since the company would perform it for them. The device works online, the data revised is synchronized as soon as the smallest general PC connects to the internet.
Lawson takes pride in Solu being the first mobile hardware designed and produced in Finland since Microsoft acquired the original Finnish tech giant Nokia. It runs on SoluOS and SoluCloud which has attracted developers
He says a fairly big factory in Oulu, which previously made Nokia hardware, has been contracted to manufacture the Solu PC. Oulu, former home of a large Nokia campus, has become Finland's hardware hub with other tech firms such as ARM and YotaPhone of Russia establishing facilities in the northern city, as well as several startups.
With Nokia's downsizing, Solu hired some of the ex-tech giant's workers such as Teemu Lepsto, core software developer of the firm who used to lead the development of the handset Nokia X2, an Android Open Source Project, and head of hardware Maria Herajarvi.
Lawson says that any HTLM5 app made for the web would run on Solu gadgets. Non-Solu users could connect with Solu devices using any normal browser.
